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The year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

New books

• Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils
• Piers Anthony - Ghost
• Jeffrey Archer - A Matter of Honour
• James Axler - Pilgrimage to Hell and Red Holocaust
• Iain Banks - The Bridge
• Thomas Bernhard - Auslöschung
• Anita Brookner - A Misalliance
• Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead
• Tom Clancy - Red Storm Rising
• James Clavell - Whirlwind
• Jackie Collins - Hollywood Husbands
• Pat Conroy - The Prince of Tides
• Hugh Cook - The Wizards and the Warriors
• Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Regiment
• Bernard & Judy Cornwell (as Susannah Kells) - Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats)
• Richard Ford - The Sportswriter
• John Gardner - Nobody Lives For Ever
• Jacques Godbout - Une histoire américaine
• Carl Hiaasen - Tourist Season
• Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle
• Stephen King - It
• W. P. Kinsella - The Fence Post Chronicles
• Judith Krantz - I'll Take Manhattan
• Louis L'Amour - Last of the Breed
• John le Carré - A Perfect Spy
• Tanith Lee - Dreams of Dark and Light: The Great Short Fiction of Tanith Lee
• Gordon Lish - Dear Mr. Capote
• H. P. Lovecraft - Dagon and Other Macabre Tales corrected edition
• Robert Ludlum - The Bourne Supremacy
• Amin Maalouf - Leo Africanus
• Robert Munsch - Love You Forever
• Patrick O'Brian - The Reverse of the Medal
• Robert B. Parker - Taming a Sea Horse
• Ellis Peters - The Rose Rent
• Belva Plain - The Golden Cup
• Anthony Powell - The Fisher King
• Terry Pratchett - The Light Fantastic
• Reynolds Price - Kate Vaiden
• James Purdy - In the Hollow of His Hand
• José Saramago - O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis
• Idries Shah - Kara Kush
• Danielle Steel - Wanderlust
• Peter Taylor - A Summons to Memphis
• James Tiptree, Jr. - Tales of the Quintana Roo
• Roger Zelazny - Blood of Amber

New drama

• Caryl Churchill& David Lan - A Mouthful of Birds
• Willy Russell - Shirley Valentine

Poetry

• Kama Sywor Kamanda - Chants de brumes

Non-fiction

• Martin Amis - The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America
• Richard Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker
• Adrian Edmondson et al - How to be a Complete Bastard
• Flora Fraser - Beloved Emma
• Mark Mathabane - Kaffir Boy
• Farley Mowat - My Discovery of America
• Marc Reisner - Cadillac Desert
• Richard Rhodes - The Making of the Atomic Bomb
• Mary Wilson - Dreamgirl: My Life As a Supreme

Births

Deaths

• January 1 - Lord David Cecil, critic and biographer
• January 4 - Christopher Isherwood, novelist
• January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer, founder of Scientology
• February 11 - Frank Herbert, American science fiction author
• February 26 - Robert Penn Warren, poet, author
• March 4 - Elizabeth Smart, Canadian poet and novelist
• March 18 - Bernard Malamud, novelist
• April 14 - Simone de Beauvoir, philosopher and feminist writer
• May 15 - Theodore White, writer
• June 14 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer
• August 3 - Beryl Markham, traveller and author
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright
• December 17 - J. F. Hendry, poet
• December 19 - V. C. Andrews, novelist
• date unknown
  • Lena Kennedy, novelist

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Wole Soyinka

Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Robin Walton, Glace Fruits
• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Rhyll McMaster, Washing the Money and John A. Scott, St. Clair
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Robert Gray Selected Poems 1963-83
• Mary Gilmore Prize: Stephen Williams - A Crowd of Voices

Canada

• See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Goncourt: Michel Host, Valet de nuit
• Prix Médicis French: Pierre Combescot, Les Funérailles de la Sardine
• Prix Médicis International: John Hawkes, Aventures dans le commerce des peaux en Alaska

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
• Cholmondeley Award: Lawrence Durrell, James Fenton, Selima Hill
• Eric Gregory Award: Mick North, Lachlan Mackinnon, Oliver Reynolds, Stephen Romer
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jenny Joseph, Persephone
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: D. Felicitas Corrigan, Helen Waddell
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Norman MacCaig
• Whitbread Best Book Award: Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World

United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Robley Wilson, Kingdoms of the Ordinary
• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Sidney Kingsley
• Frost Medal: Allen Ginsberg / Richard Eberhart
• Nebula Award: Orson Scott Card, Speaker For the Dead
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Patricia MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall
• Prometheus Award: Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Henry Taylor, The Flying Change

Elsewhere

• Premio Nadal: Manuel Vicent, Balada de Caín